Roosevelt approves anti-abortion ordinance

After hearing more than two hours of alternating speeches favoring and opposing a proposed anti-abortion ordinance, the Roosevelt County Commission on Tuesday gave final approval to the ordinance on a 4-1 vote.

The opposing vote came from District 1 Commissioner Dennis Lopez, who urged the commission to delay action on the ordinance to allow commissioners to get a sense of action the New Mexico Legislature might take in its 2023 session, which begins Tuesday, regarding abortion and local opposition to the state’s official position allowing abortions in the state.

The commission set aside the anti-abortion ordinance from its regular agenda and scheduled it in the Jake Lopez Community Center on the Roosevelt County Fairgrounds to accommodate a large turnout. At least 100 people attended the session.

Before the vote, speakers from both sides of the abortion debate were allowed three minutes each to advocate for or against the ordinance. The debate was scheduled to allow speakers on each side one hour to make their case.

The debate went on for about 20 minutes beyond the two-hour allotment, and when County Manager Amber Hamilton was asked how many speakers remained at about the two-hour mark, she said about 30 people who had registered to speak had not yet been heard from.

Prompted by calls from the audience, Commission President Paul Grider called an end to the debate about 20 minutes past the two-hour mark.

He then asked for a motion to approve the ordinance. The motion was made by District 2 Commissioner Rod Savage and seconded by District 4 Commissioner Tina Dixon. Lopez then raised his objections, and there was no further discussion before the commissioners voted to adopt the ordinance.

In their three-minute speeches, advocates for the ordinance stressed their beliefs that human life begins at conception and abortion therefore amounts to the slaying of infants.

Speakers frequently cited a claim that 63 million babies have been killed through abortion in the U.S., which they labeled as 63 million murders.

Many of the pro-ordinance speakers declared themselves to be Christians and cited passages from the Bible to support their claims.

Some noted that the ordinance makes exceptions to abortion prohibitions for cases in which the mother’s health would be threatened or the fetus has died or would not survive outside the womb.

Some speakers also said the ordinance does not ban abortion in New Mexico.

“If someone wants an abortion, they can go to Albuquerque or Santa Fe where they love that sort of thing,” one said.

Some of the anti-ordinance speakers carried signs with pro-choice slogans that included phrases “Abortion is health care,” and “Stop the right-wing attacks on women’s rights.”

When anti-ordinance speakers came to the podium, anti-ordinance audience members stood and held up their signs.

Opponents of the ordinance repeated messages that abortion decisions should be made by women, their loved ones and medical personnel, not government officials, and that abortion is a health-care right that should be recognized in rural areas where health care is lacking.

Other pro-choice speakers mentioned New Mexico’s near-to-last rankings in children’s health measures and childhood among U.S. states. Denying abortion rights, they said, is likely to lead to more children facing poverty and health consequences.

Others said abortions will take place whether or not they are legal, and that legalizing abortion will assure abortions are performed safely.

The ordinance approved Tuesday was labeled as “Ordinance2023-01 Requiring Abortion Providers in Roosevelt County to Comply with Federal Law.”

It is based on a 150-year-old federal statute that prohibits the use of the U.S. Postal Service or any common carrier to deliver medical supplies and equipment intended for use in performing abortions.

For enforcement, the ordinance relies on private citizens to bring civil action against those who might send or receive abortion supplies or equipment. It specifically denies enforcement rights to “Roosevelt County or any of its employees or agents against any person or entity, by any means whatsoever…”

Following the meeting, the Rev. Gary Piepkorn, pastor of the Faith in Christ Lutheran Church in Portales, said the commission’s decision made him “thankful.”

“It’s a moral question,” he said of the abortion issue. “You’ve got to go on the side of morality.”

Wade Fraze, a teacher and coach at Portales High School and conservativism advocate, said, “The commission did an outstanding job. They took the right stand,” representing “the majority” of opinion in the county.

Bex Hampton, a coordinator of the ordinance’s opponents, however, called the decision “outrageous.”

“It was a clear attack on women,” she said,

Candice Yanez, another opponent of the ordinance, noted the city of Clovis’ recent adoption of a similar anti-abortion ordinance, as well as in Hobbs and Alamogordo.

“The anti-abortion laws passed by these local governments, she said, do not represent the opinions of most New Mexicans,” she said. “New Mexicans have to stand up to keep abortion rights.”